Lightmatter raises $400 million, quadruples valuation to $4.4 billion
The fresh capital, which brings total funding to USD 850 million, will be used to make and deploy its photonic chips in partner data centers and expand its 200-person team across North America.
US-based photonic tech startup Lightmatter has raised USD 400 million in a Series D funding round at a valuation of USD 4.4 billion.
New investor T. Rowe Price led the funding round, with participation from backers such as Fidelity and Alphabet’s GV.
The fresh capital, which brings total funding since the company’s inception to USD 850 million, will be used to make and deploy its photonic chips in partner data centers, and expand its 200-person team across North America, the company said.
“With Passage, the world’s fastest photonic engine, we’re setting a new standard for performance and breaking through the barriers that limit AI computing,” said Lightmatter co-founder and CEO Nick Harris. “This funding accelerates our ability to scale, delivering the supercomputers of tomorrow today.”
With this financing, California-headquartered Lightmatter, which develops methods for computer chips to communicate and perform calculations using silicon photonics, will ready Passage for mass deployment in partner data centers, enabling the scaling required for sustained AI innovation, the company said in a press release.
“The demand for AI supercomputers that will power the next wave of frontier AI models is strong and growing,” said Tony Wang, portfolio manager of the T. Rowe Price Science & Technology Fund. “We’re pleased to back Lightmatter on their mission to help power AI infrastructure.”
“Photonics isn’t just a breakthrough; it’s the future of million-xPU data centers for AI,” said Erik Nordlander, General Partner at GV. “We’ve proudly supported Lightmatter since the beginning, and after six years, our belief in their vision has only grown stronger.”
